TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Guy Faulkner, a senior lecturer in individual and organizational development for the Harrow Business School at the University of Westminster, England, spent several months at Indiana State University last summer and fall as a visiting fellow for motorsports to lay the groundwork for a variety of related initiatives. Now, he is embarking on a two-year appointment at ISU as director of motorsports initiatives to help get many of those projects off the ground.

"I am most excited that Mr. Faulkner has agreed to join us for this important work," said C. Jack Maynard, provost and vice president for academic affairs at ISU. "His leadership and advice have been critical, and I'm confident that he will be able to position Indiana State University at the forefront of motorsports studies. ISU and the state of Indiana will benefit from his leadership."

Besides the April 2006 announcement of a new minor in motorsports management ? a joint endeavor involving ISU's colleges of Business, Health and Human Performance, and Technology -- the university is continuing to develop a variety of related initiatives as a means of emphasizing even further its commitment to motorsports studies and to enriching the state's workforce in regard to that industry.

Last semester alone, ISU motorsports students served as interns for the 2006 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas and for GM and Team Chevrolet at the Texas Motor Speedway (Craftsman Truck Series Silverado 350k, the O'Reilly Challenge 300 and the Dickies 500). They also launched Team Sycamore Racing, a new campus organization comprised of students from all academic areas, that will be operating, managing and driving a dragster at area speedways come April 2007.

"I think what impressed me most was the way in which both the university, as an institution, and the staff at all levels and across all areas of the university, grasped the vision, concept and challenges of motorsport and its importance in terms of economic development, jobs, knowledge, skills and attributes for Indiana, the 21st century, and the world," Faulkner said. "It has quickly become a challenge that they welcome, relish, and believe in, and are keen to deliver. I am proud to play a small part, as a member of the ISU team."

Faulkner?s trip to ISU as a visiting fellow for motorsports studies in 2006 came on the heels of his six-month stint at East Tennessee State University to work on training for the motorsports industry. He received government funding to work there with colleagues at ETSU and Bristol Motor Speedway to understand the differences in training needs between the U.S. and the U.K. motorsports industries. His appointment at ISU will run from Jan. 22, 2007 through June 30, 2009.

"Guy Faulkner is an extremely valuable resource with respect to his knowledge of the education implication surrounding the motorsports industry," said Ron Green, dean of Indiana State University's College of Business. "He has brought to us an industrial awareness and background through his work that will ensure the programs we develop are on target with the industry's needs."

Faulkner has a master's degree in human resource management, is a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Chartered Management Institute, and an academic member of the Design Management Institute and Read Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Besides ISU, he also has served in visiting faculty roles at Hochschule (Technical University), Bremen, Germany; CESEM Business School, Marseille, France; and with the MBA program at Henley Management College in the U.K.

Prior to a career in higher education, Faulkner served in senior positions in both the public and private sectors. He served as head of personnel and training for the Countryside Commission, as head of administration for the England Board of the Nature Conservancy Council, and as director of marketing and resources for a British Telecom/ News International Consortium company.

Faulkner, whose son is a race car driver, also has advised a government panel on engineering, explaining that motorsports had a potentially important role to play in attracting young people to careers in engineering. His consulting work has included an in-depth survey of the training and development needs of British motorsports, commissioned by the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) out of the U.K., of which ISU is a member.

His other motorsports-related initiatives and activities include serving as:
* Director of Pure Racing Limited, an international motorsport venture catalyst consultancy company;
* Non-executive Director of Lateral Syncing Ltd., a Motorsport Marketing Technology Company;
* Co-chair of the Motorsport Industry Association?s (MIA) Education and Skills Council;
* Member of the MIA National Human Resources Forum;
* Researcher and co-author for the Motorsport Valley Workforce Development Plan;
* Review member of the Skills, Education and Training sub-group of the U.K. Government?s Department of Trade & Industry's (DTI) Motorsport Competitiveness Panel;
* Member of the project team that produced the Motorsport Valley Cluster Development Strategy Report for the DTI;
* Chair of the International Motorsport Education Forum (IMEF);
* Member of the U.K. government-sponsored (DTI - Government Motorsport Unit) Motorsports Academy Advisory Panel;
* Member of the North Carolina Motorsports Association Education Council; and
* Board member of the Association for Diversity in Motorsport (AFDIM).

As an industry, motorsports in the U.K. employs about 40,000 people, including 25,000 engineers. In the U.S., motorsports employs about 120,000 people in more than 24,000 businesses, and the workforce is equally divided between engineering and service positions. The future value of the total U.S. motorsport and performance engineering market is predicted to climb from its 2002 total of $16.45 billion to more than $22 billion in 2007. This marks an increase of nearly 35 percent. (Source: Motorsport Industry Association USA Market Research Report, 2002)

Story Highlights

Guy Faulkner, a senior lecturer in individual and organizational development for the Harrow Business School at the University of Westminster, England, spent several months at Indiana State University last summer and fall as a visiting fellow for motorsports to lay the groundwork for a variety of related initiatives. Now, he is embarking on a two-year appointment at ISU as director of motorsports initiatives to help get many of those projects off the ground.